Comments on: Does Your E-mail Address Look Professional

By: larry

larry — Mon, 12 May 2008 04:44:37 +0000

@Missouri - Great point a stable e-mail an phone # are are essential.

By: Bill Bayless

Bill Bayless — Sun, 11 May 2008 19:04:53 +0000

Larry, I couldn’t agree more. I would like to add that using the email address from your website domain name is the number one way to promote your own website. I can’t tell you how many Realtors (A lot) have nice websites and still use an AOL, Yahoo, or hotmail account. And guess what? You can’t find their website. All of these, including gmail are great services, but have no place in your business communication.
Be careful not to make the domain name too long or too complicated. More often than not, just your name is a good choice

By: Missouri Real Estate

Missouri Real Estate — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:42:36 +0000

Also, once you get a profession email address - don’t change it. Too many small business change their email address every few years. Every time you do this you risk losing some customers. So unless you positively have to change the address - don’t.

Neal

By: Thomas

Thomas — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:44:10 +0000

In addition to having an email address through my site (thomas@tgrubbaphoto.com) I had my web designer set up a client log in area that I use to deliver images to my clinets. This eliminates the need to drop off CD’s, which I was doing in the beginning and was way too time consuming.

I have create a test client area for anyone interested. Log into my web site at http://www.tgrubbaphoto.com/ an you will notice a client log in button in the upper right corner. Hit that and you will be directed to the client page that askes for a username and password. For the test they are:

Username: test
Password: client

For some reason these must be in lowercase to work. Then hit the enter button and you will be redirect to the download page. I have created 3 links for the exercise but there are no images associated with the links, so don’t bother hitting them. Also on the right hand side is a place to enter the client name and contact info.

What I like about this system is it’s speedy, efficient, eliminates the need to drop off or mail CD’s and the client goes through my web page to get the images. This is much more professional than an emailed link to a ftp.

By: Scott Pruett

Scott Pruett — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:25:42 +0000

@ Mark -

Actually [the free standard version of] Google apps only gives you 100 users, not unlimited.

I use Google apps as well for my main business email. Works great, especially b/c I work from 3 computers + an iPhone. I run everything through IMAP, except with one computer that I pull my mail down via POP into Thunderbird for archiving offsite from the Google servers.

By: Susanne Hayek

Susanne Hayek — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:48:33 +0000

sorry, that was me above.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:47:42 +0000

I agree but with the caveat that if you use john@johndoephotography.com, there better be a website there as well. I’ve tried to look up someone’s website from an e-mail address and if there isn’t one, my opinion of their professionalism plummets.

Unlike yahoo and hotmail, a gmail account is pretty hip and I think passes as a “professional” e-mail.

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:37:13 +0000

What I do is pay the $9/year for my domain, sign up for the free version of google apps (http://google.com/a), then point the mx records of my domain to google.

Now me@mydomain.com is hosted on Google’s servers. I get to use the gmail interface and/or access email via pop3 or imap. You also get as many accounts as you want. Very nice.